Title: Grave Mercy (His Fair Assassin #1)Author: Robin LaFevers
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Genre/Age Group: Young Adult, Historical Fiction
Source: Purchased
Add it: Goodreads
Rating:
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.
Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?
my thoughts
I feel like Grave Mercy was, in a way, written especially for me. Even though I have been putting it off for the longest time, because I was worried it might be long-winded, I ended up loving it. It has everything I love in and want from a story: stunning surroundings, fascinating history, incredible mythology, political intrigue, court shenanigans, interesting characters, and most of all, assassin nuns. Honestly, how could I have put off a book about assassin nuns for so long?! I did feel like this story could have been a bit longer though. I know that with almost 500 pages and a pretty slow plot a lot of people were a bit bored, but I couldn’t get enough, and I think the ending was very abrupt (although I think the second and third books will deal more with that). Also, I wish the romance had been built-up a bit more. I really liked it, but I personally prefer a very slow build-up. Still, I couldn’t put this book down.
The thing I liked most about this book was the premise: Ismae is a handmaiden of Death at the convent of St. Mortain. These daughters of Death are trained to be assassins from a very young age, and know how to kill a man in every possible way. Ismae was not the most memorable character to me, but I did love her a whole lot. From the moment she got excited over killing men, I knew she was my kind of girl. (I like violence, okay?) When Ismae gets her first and second official assignments from the abbess of the convent to prove herself, she runs into Gavriel Duval, who keeps trying to get to her victims before she can (but is unsuccessful, because Ismae is glorious). As could have been expected, Ismae and Duval develop feelings for each other, and though I’m very picky with my romances and I wish theirs had been built-up more, I did really like them together. Of course, that was helped by the fact that [View post to see spoiler].
Anyway, Ismae is then sent to go to the court of Brittany, because the abbess doesn’t trust Duval, but mostly to ensure the safety of the (twelve-year-old) duchess Anne. This is another aspect in which Grave Mercy excelled: the setting is just fantastic. I didn’t know much about the French oppression of Brittany, and I loved learning about it just (even though it made me very, very angry) as much as I enjoyed the politics of this story. Books with a focus on politics are some of my favorites, and I think Robin LaFevers wrote this aspect really well. There is so much going on at the Breton court. From the moment Ismae arrives, she is unable to trust anyone, although with the help of Duval (whom she is pretending to sleep with – it’s complicated, okay?), she’s able to befriend the the duchess, who is just precious. I adored their friendship a whole lot. Still, Ismae couldn’t trust anyone, and I loved following her as she tried to figure things out. Sneaking around and trying to figure out who to trust and which rumors to believe are my favorite things.
I wish I could write a better review for this book, because it definitely needs it, but also it’s been a month and pretty much all I remember is that I loved it. My only really issue was that, while there are some parts of the story that have been resolved by the end of the story, there is still so much going on politics-wise that I wasn’t entirely happy with where the story left off. This was also a little bit because there’s a villain speech at the end, and those never work for me. Still, I think that this series is brilliant in it the way you would exactly expect from a book about fifteenth century Brittany assassin nuns hanging around at court. It’s glorious, and I can’t wait to finally start Dark Triumph.
memorable quotes
“You do not care for de Lornay’s beauty, demoiselle?” Beast asks.
I wrinkle my nose. “I am not impressed with pretty men in general, my lord.”
“When I tried to wake you, you stabbed me.” He sounds sore put out, and I cannot blame him. (…) I’ve wiped away most of the blood and can see a two-inch scratch along his collarbone. “I must resume practicing,” I mutter. “I missed.”
“Have you no practice at needlework?” she asks.
“Only with a much larger needle,” I mutter.
She smiles grimly at my joke. “Ah. Perhaps we can find some larger pieces for you to practice on.”
“Not all men are the same, you know. with someone such as Gavriel, I would suggest appearing aloof, not chasing too much. He might see that as suffocating rather than charming.” Her words are sharp, but her voice is sweet, like honey on the edge of a blade, and meant to be cutting. I comfort myself with the knowledge that if Duval ever feels smothered by me, it will be because I am holding a pillow over his face and commending his soul to Mortain.
I stare at him coldly. “I do not care for needlework.” I pause. “Unless it involves the base of the skull.”
“Are men truly such idiots that they cannot resist two orbs of flesh?”